A shining bright morning star
by Henry Uchiha
Summary: When a mission goes fatally wrong, can Amrin and Eren get their confidence back to carry on the fight, or will the experience with such a horrific close encounter leave them wary to go back. When both are saved by a pair of mysterious twins, can either of them manage to help both boys get back on track. Warning: Boyxboy ErenxOC, ArminxOC
1. The village

**Hi everyone! So I got talked into writing this by my best friend- thanks a bunch hun for getting me hooked on this anime! Anyway, hope you guys like it! I will post a warning at the beginning of every chapter! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Warning, story contains: Boyxboy, extreme violence, character death, OC's, gore, mentions of past abuse etc.**

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"TEAM MOVE FORWARD!"

The single scream pierced the cold morning as the dawn seemed so far and yet was barely minutes away. The stars above in the purple sky was black out by the endless flowing plume and highlights of orange which certainly weren't streaks of dawn.

No.

The glistening stars were nothing but a forgotten hope behind the growing veil of black which was spreading along the length of streets, glowing silhouettes masked the distance, orbs moving in glowing pairs but were certainly anything from being stars. "BRACE! READY YOURSELF!"

The scream split the air with the ferociousness of it's shout. There was absolutely no hesitation behind it's order but only a complete and comforting certainty as suddenly the floating and bloodthirsty orbs in the darkness shined brighter. Hunger blazed out of them with a sickening dark joy which could only belong to the others who knew of that taste. Who knew of those inhuman thoughts which circled through minds so far greater than a lesser beings.

The streets rumbled as the orbs revealed themselves, with dark anticipating joy on a face split with a wide grin. A grin that seemed almost as real as that on a clown's. It sent so many emotions through those that the gigantic form came across; _fear, anger, terror, misery._ So many different emotions yet all connected to the face of that being which towered above the building tops, a face which stained others with nightmares which would plague their souls for the rest of their lives.

For the short amount of time which remained of it.

However the strong voice didn't belong to the line of beasts which were staggering their way around on colossal, thick stilt like legs.

No.

The voice belonged to the most unlikeliest of things as a small shadow launched through the morning black as around the great and large city which was under siege, the shadow which launched through crumbling gaps from giant structures with gallivant twists and tucks through the air, like that a master gymnast may demonstrate in their class, or how someone may show for an Olympic show.

But here they were the tools of survival as two thin line hooks smashed through the air, embedding deeply into rock as he rolled through the air, launching along the stretch of streets with a long trail of burst white behind him from where he was being propelled by gear.

As he rose from the shadows, slowly through the air, the flames of a hundred burning buildings, the ink black of his hair began to shine out as it was sleeked back with lines and trails of blood. His own, a friends, or another's? Impossible to tell. But the crimson of it just brought out the emerald expanse which was his hateful eyes. The colour of the forests which he had never known in his childhood. The sight of the sea under sun light when the right day would have made it still as glass?

But now the colour was drown out by the dilated pupil which was full of a endless darkness. A darkness which bore absolutely nothing less than complete loathing for everything which was directly in front of him. The beasts and horrors which had plagued his life. Which had left him and every other human being a rat inside a city for the majority of their upbringing.

The beasts which had meant that his mother had become a snapped bleeding twig inside the hungry gaping hole which had been one of these bastard's mouths.

But now his eyes changed, they almost seemed to become complete mirrors as the burning inferno of the town around him caught in his face.

His rage had no bound.

His blood lust without equal.

Not until every stinking, bastard Titan would be brought crashing to the ground and was a rotting pile.

The face of a Titan split into it's disgusting wide grin as it locked eyes on him and a line of scouts behind him, all of which moved in a blurred launch along the length of nearby walls and through the air. Each of the guard was wearing similar uniforms consisting of a short, light brown jacket with the badge of the squad on both shoulders, on the front left pocket and on the centre of the back, a light-coloured shirt, a dark brown sash around the waist covering the hips, white pants, and dark brown knee-high leather boots. A monogram of a pair of overlapping wings was scribed on each badge. The symbol was Eren's pride and joy. Everything he had pushed and visualised in his future since he was old enough to wonder what lay beyond the walls of his forgotten home. Beyond the fears and horrors of his past around these monsters.

"Eren! Slow down!"

From the fire came the glint of blond hair underneath a cloak as the material fluttered away to reveal to shaggy haired figure who was moving more elegantly and carefully through the air, keeping up with Eren's left side as he stared down the target in front of them. "Armin, get back!" The dark head bellowed over his shoulder.

It felt like so long ago since he had nearly been swallowed whole by one of these... since Eren had taken hold of his hand and threw him free. His best friend sacrificing himself so the thought that he may live. He was not going to let his best friend go into battle now without him at his side. He was not going to let him ever face these alone. They had gone through too much together. Too much to ever not be there for each other.

Green cloaks floated through the air, discarded as they were catching on the embers of the city.

Armin however kept his eyes now locked on the bare bodied creature.

The Titan's had always been the thing that he most detested. Ever since he had first watched one appear at the wall of his home. Ever since he had watched one grab up someone, snap them in two and then bite clean the skull of another, pulling the person's spine out between it's teeth as though it was some sickening string of candy. Blood had exploded from the corpse of the person as though they had become a sickening fountain.

Even to this day he remembered that person's scream.

It would plague him till his last breath.

But now as Armin stared down the giant creature of his nightmares, he found that it still disturbed him to this very day, the amount that these creatures resembled humans in their face, their eyes, even their hair. It sent trembles throughout him as his heart rate exploded violently, speeding blood mercilessly throughout his body.

The Titan was an eight meter. It had deep hazel and caramel eyes which traced the line of scouts with a growing and obvious hunger. It's hair was a mess of brown ash stained curls. It's bare body was toned and relatively smooth though defined in other places. Though now it's mouth was twisted up in a grotesque and frozen grin. It was stumbling slightly, almost as though it was woozy and had just woken up from an annoying, pesky nap.

But still, those massive hands meant instant death if they got around you.

They meant-

"EREN LOOK OUT!" Armin screamed.

The boy pulled harshly on the triggers of his swords and felt his body rocketed forward through the air, twisting himself and smashing into the side of his best friend to knock him off course of going towards the Titan. "Arming what the hell-"

But the ink haired boy fell silent as a nearby house roof exploded into a line of flying, devastating shards which rain down in an inferno of hate and splatter of blood, mixed with the remains and limbs of people who had taken up shelter within it.

Blood painted across both boys faces but both only had a second to prepare themselves as they were thrown against the side of a house and Eren tucked his arm around his friend. "Now!" He screamed and the ink haired boy went back towards the sky, using split seconds of grappling on flying wreckage, and bounding off each one of them.

Armin had to turn his attention to the other one as another Scout came up on his side. "Eren may be good!" The scouter called but he's not going to be able to take on two of them at a time!"  
"You obviously don't know Eren!" The blond called out, his mind already reeling drastically as he watched the formation follow Eren up his mad bounds, leaping along the skin of the Titan, taking great bounds, far more than anyone else would have been able to without sheer determination and confidence that no harm was going to come to them.

Eren showed no hesitation. No motion of slowing down. No matter how much his lungs ached and his muscles screamed in agony. He would not stop! He would keep going. He would keep going until the light left his eyes and his body was crushed into nothing on the ground. He would never waver in his duty. He owed it to everyone and everything he loved. He owed it to his father. His mother. His family. The scouts.

Never to fall.

"So come on you bastard!" He screamed at the top of his lung as he finally launched across the shoulder of the giant. "AND JUST DIE!"

His swords slashed through the flesh of the Titan, like a burning knife through hot churned butter.

A hiss and explosion of steam bellowed up in a line from the neat slice of the deep cut. The giant's gaze stayed as unfocused as ever as slowly it began to fall forward. It's fingers going limp as it sprawled out towards the ongoing ground. Leaving Eren to launch off in a sharp direction to the left, by the flames of the buildings. "One down, and god knowns just how many more there are to go-AGGHHH"

The scream split the entire morning as all of a sudden Armin's world came crashing down and to a slow trickle around him.

The fist and hand of the other Titan had come sailing through the flames and heavy black smoke of the ruined city and was now crushing around Eren, who had his swords propped through the gaps of it's fingers. _It... It had sacrificed the other one, knowing Eren would go for it._ Arwin thought in horror as he stared up at the black haired Titan whose face was an impassive mask. It's eyes were blacker that the midnight of it's hair.

It's mouth was a straight line of unwavering and showing teeth. Each a small square block blatantly showing through it's slightly parted lips. _He waited for Eren to kill the other one because he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself! It wanted Eren!_

"EREN!" His scream was drowned out by the sound of Eren wailing in agony as the Titan tightened it's grip around him. "I'm coming!" The blonde bellowed as he launched upwards. Fear was drowned out inside of him, washed away as he stared after the boy. _So many times he was there. He saved me before. He did it all himself. I'm going to prove that I can-  
_ "ARMIN WATCH OUT!"

He barely had time to recognise the world had been flipped upside down and that he could see every particle of ash in the lined street. He could see the houses, a mess of trampled and destructive lines of kicked rubble. Nothing of their original states were left but pieces of roofs, a few walls were toppled over here and there.

 _Oh god. What's happened._ His body shut down as finally the fear and reality of what was about to come next, hit him like a all too real punch in the chest.

Everything had been going so well... or as well as things usually went in their life.

He had been spending the entire of yesterday with Eren. Training, practising, preparing for a situation like this. Both had been talking, talking about all the times they used to share. Pushing each other. Planning.

Then the emergency call had come in.

A town had been hit. An entire city attacked.

They had spent the last twenty four hours trying to fight these off. Trying to compensate for the low numbers which had been around.

Now it seems that it hadn't been fear which had been to distract him from his senses. From his plans. From everything he had been prided on.

No. The thing that had caught him off guard was exhaustion.

And now it was like he had been taken back to a year ago.

That first surprise attack and now here he was, being raised above the gaping mouth of a hungry Titan, staring down at the creatures throat.

Only able to let out one last scream as he was dropped down into the darkness.

Eren screamed out as the sight of his friend vanished and he was dropped similarly. "Oh no you don't you fucking stupid bastard!" He screamed, as he landed in a crouch and instantly slammed his hands up, pushing heavily down with all his might into his feet and up with his palms. The teeth began to dig painfully into his palm, splattering blood across his face, and sending a red stream down his wrists as his hands burst open. "I-I'M NOT GOING TO BE CHOW FOR YOU!" He screamed with all of his might.

A sharp tooth burst through his boot and he felt his foot slip, being brought down onto one knee as he had to support the weight of the mouth across the back of his shoulder now, which bled just as easily and more so painfully than his hands. "I'LL KILL YOU! THEN! I'LL GET MY BEST FRIEND BA-AGHHH" His scream became louder and louder as finally he found himself unable to take the pain much longer.

But all he could do was look out from streams of blood which coursed over his eyes, and had to blink them out of his way as he stared at the Titan which was stood there. Staring blankly into the air as it seemed to be almost... stunned would be a right word.

That beast had just eaten and killed his best friend.

 _"I'm going to murder you and slowly rip out your entrails."_ Eren bellowed. _"Then I'll rip out your eyes, just long enough that you can watch me massacre you, and every other fucking waste of air Titan in this fucking city! I WILL END YOU!"_

His other knee began to buckle and give way.

His soft coloured skin seemed now to almost be tainted completely crimson by his blood.

His team were too busy fighting off other Titans to be able to do anything. They were to distracted trying to keep the Titans away.

 _"Well get this, you big bastard!"_ He shouted over his shoulder, turning his glare up towards to the dripping cavern roof the the beast's mouth. The smell of a hundred dead rotting bodies littered it's throat. Metallic stenches of blood, while some lose limbs from torn victims were stuck in it's teeth.

Eren had to try and not vomit as he watched a gouge skull fall from the back tooth. An eye rolled out and slid down the back of it's throat. _"If I'm going down your throat! I'm going to give you the belly ache of your life!"_

For a moment the pressure intensified and blood streamed down his face. _This is it._ He snarled, in the back of his head. _This is how it happens-_

But all too suddenly the pressure relieved itself quickly, and Eren found himself toppling forward towards the ground.

The stench of rotting began to fill his nose as he found his head banged harshly off the ground. He scrambled forward quickly, clearing away, finding that half of the Titan's head had been sliced cleanly off after the vulnerable point of the neck had been cut wide open. Mainly, the half of the head which had been crushing down on top of him. "What the-"

He paused as a boot slowly crunched into the ash next to him and he turned his gaze up.

His voice went monotone. "What the hell..."

 _ **-Inside the Titan's stomach-**_

Armin woke suddenly and let out a scream. Scrambling away as quickly as he could as he recognised the bodies which were floating over and away from him in the various blood stained stomach acids of the Titan's stomach. A seven year old boy, (one of the Titan's more recent victims), Armin guessed, was screaming and flailing about as he moved across the various crimson stained liquid. "It's hot! It hurts! Mommy! Wake up! We got to get out of here! Mommy-"

The boy shook a nearby body, he guessed they were mother and son because of the (other than the obvious), they resembled one another greatly. Both had damp red hair. Eyes that sparkled a hearth fire brown, but were now drowned in fear. "Mommy please we have to-"

As the corpse slid over in the water, Armin lunged over and turned the kid sharply away before the boy was able to see the skin on the corpse dissolving away, revealing it's half bitten state, the intestines and various inner organs pouring out of it and melting.

If they were in here, that meant that they were going to die. Armin would not let this boy's last memories on this earth, be that of seeing his mother devoured into stomach acids, with a look of horror frozen on her death mask of a face and her inners pouring out. No one, no matter how strong they were, would ever be able to handle something like that.

A seven year old, least of all, should have to see that.

"I want my mommy! I'm scared!" The boy screamed.

Armin wished he could have said he had a plan at that point. That he had a thought of something of what to do. That he could have had some plan come to his mind just as it would have done any other time. _What do I do?! Come on! What do I do!_

Then it slowly sank in.

What he had to do.

Slowly he pulled the boy close to his chest. Wrapping his arms around the smaller form as tight as he could, pushing his head against him so that the boy had to either look him in his eyes or could hide his face against his uniform. "Shush, everything is going to be al'right." Armin tried to hush softly as the boy cried gently. "Just close your eyes. Soon... we won't be here any longer. I promise. We will be safe." He wrapped his arms tighter and the boy closed his eyes.

The pain got worse. How much longer could they last? Not long.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

But then the sound of a scream echoed, like that of a distant echo of mist.

Then he was forced to duck his head and try to cover his and the boy's head as a deafening roar exploded around them. The sound rising and rising till there was nothing but the feeling like an gun had gone of right next to their ears and pierced into their ear drums. "What is going on-"

Bubbles began to rise within the stomach and Amrin pulled the boy closer. _Here we go._ "Hold on tight! And keep your eyes shut!" He almost screamed as more bubbles violently rose around him.

Suddenly both felt as though a rip-tide had wrapped around their feet and both were pulled under the surface, finding themselves, dropping, further and further. Losing the dim light which had been the insides of the monster and finding darkness was their only torch.

 _So this is it then. Eren... I'm so sorry._

His lungs began to scream for air as it felt like his body was being boiled over a slow and painful flame.

The walls felt as though they were closing in around him.

 _I failed you-_

But suddenly the feeling was gone as he and the boy felt air and intense heat hit their faces. Their bodies were suddenly ripped from each other and a pair of hands were on his shoulders.

 _Wait... what?_

"Amrin! Wake up! Come on! Please! Please wake up!" Eren shouted.

 _Eren?_

"Am I dead?" He asked quietly. Scared to open his eyes, of what he may see.

A hand slapping across his face made him sit bolt upright. "OW!" He shouted, glaring up at the bloodied face of Eren.  
"If you ever. EVER. Try and do something like that again! I swear to god! You will be dead!" Eren shouted in his face, before suddenly and harshly hugging the blond.  
"But I don't understand how." Amrin said, his vision was swarming about, his head felt like it had been crushed in a vice. His skin and body burnt like acid was still eating away at it. "I thought I was dead... How did you get me out of there-"  
"Well that would be us." Said a new voice.

Slowly Amrin raised his gaze from the black leather boots which were crushing their authority into the ash, but didn't seem to be getting filthy. A pair of black leather, (or something that resembles leather very closely) jeans were clamped tightly around two pairs of thin, athletic like legs. A red sash wrapped around their waists, similar to the colour of Titan's blood. A belt buckle of intense leather with a star belt buckle shined out. The rest of the outfit consisted of a black short jacket, very similar to the uniform of the scouts which were now staring in amazement, though out of the pair in front of them, the boy who had platinum spiked hair with red highlights wore a white shirts, while the girl who kept a lot of her face hidden behind her pony tail of ink black hair. "Our names are Harry and Jasmine Morgenstern." He smirked ever so slightly as he walked over to the corpse of the ten meter titan and ripped it cleanly from the expanding gap in the flesh that Amrin and the small boy had escaped from.

He guessed the boy Harry had been the one to free them.

The boy had startling cold eyes, which seemed unable to settle down onto one colour, one minute they were an ice cold blue. The next they were tainted a sea green emerald.

Amrin stared on with wide eyes. "Now... care to tell us why you got in the way of our hunt." His sweet voice suddenly turned to a harsh snarl.

Just as the girl pointed her swords at him.

"Oh fuck." He heard Eren mutter in his breath.


	2. Our heroes or our executioners

**Hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Thanks Jas-chan for reading this ^_^ hope you are enjoying it! Thank you to all of you again! Have a lovely day/night wherever you are! ^_^ Warning, story contains: Boyxboy, extreme violence, character death, OC's, gore, mentions of past abuse etc and ratings will be turned up in later chapters.**

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Armin stared for a few more seconds up at the blonde haired boy with those startling multicoloured eyes. They bore down into him like a merciless pair of swords, like the other boy was just as big an inconvenience to him, as another Titan appearing would be. It was the look that Armin was always scared that all the others on the squad would give him whenever they go out on patrol.

His eyes were an spectacle of lights and colours. Like the Northern lights them very selves from Armin's books had come from their black and white page, their ink set descriptions and decided that life would be best served, taking place in those harsh glaring orbs which were the boy's eyes. His skin was a soft peachy colour, tainted like porcelain when a burst of fire swept light over them, but in the shadows of the night right now, it blended in quite harshly like a chameleon to it's surroundings. Meaning that the lustrous warmth of the colour, became nothing less than a harsh and relentless ash grey. His hair moved forward and bristled like leafs on trees in a summer breeze. The crimson highlights could have been confused for human blood, though the platinum of the blonde glistened fresh like silver and gold star light. Such a strange combination.

The girl however, though they claimed the similar last name, seemed nothing alike in appearance. Her skin was a darker more light, caramel like colour in appearance and tone. Her hair was midnight black and even in it's tied back ponytail, it seemed to reach down almost to her waist in length. The gleam in it seemed almost complimented by the dancing and movement of the burning village background. Like she or the burning destruction of fire didn't seemed to belong, one without the other.

Her eyes were just as dark as her hair and just as mercilessly cold. They held no warmth, no recognition, no sense of enjoyment or dislike. They were just empty. There seemed to be absolutely no care one way or the other. They were half rested though her body was slightly tensed, her heeled black leather boots were turned, with the point out, her posture showing she was ready to spring at a moments notice. Like the boy she wore the exact same uniform though her boots were heeled instead. But something told Armin that she had no problem with them either way.

She tilted the point of her double edge sword under his chin and Armin had to tried and avoid noticing the fact that the blade was so sharp against his throat, and was sliding closer down his chin, that when he swallowed out of a nervous twitch, he felt a line of blood well up and trickle down his chest where the blade scratched and sliced open the skin ever so slightly. _The blade is so sharp... what the hell kind of blade is that!_

"Don't." She said quietly.

In the flash of a movement, her sword was then pointed at Eren's throat. Her eyes piercing into him, far massively deeper than they had done with Armin. She had barely glanced over him, barely paying attention to him except for the fact that he was exactly where she wanted him. But the way she looked at Eren? It was strange. She looked at him in every single way that Armin had seen most people do. Like he was family, a friend... dare he say, she looked at him with half lidded eyes, so full to the brim at that split second that...

She looked at Eren almost as though he was a lover.

Armin's best friend obviously hadn't missed that look as he was now growing scarlet under her gaze as one of her heeled boots crushed down onto his chests and her sword pointed under his throat. His emerald eyes staring up at her as he seemed to be trying very difficult not to speak or move at all, for fear of being impaled onto the blade or the sharp of her heel, which was beginning to dig deeper into his skin. His uniform was torn into pieces from where the Titan had almost crushed him and sliced him with it's teeth.

The girl's eyes noted over him, staring hungrily at the exposed patches of sin as she moved her eyes further and further across his form, making more and more visual notes of him. Armin could see it now. She wasn't just looking over him, she was evaluating him! There was such an intense intelligence behind those eyes that they seemed to be overwhelmed by a complete destruction of an impassive mask.

Immediately, he could understand just how deadly an enemy she would make right about now.

"Listen, we're not the enemy here! We were just-"  
"Eyes up here." The boy purred in a silky voice.

Now he didn't sound so rough, Armin could notice there was an intense soothing note to his voice. It was soft and seemed to resonate on all the exact same perfect levels. There was something quite stunning about it. His eyes automatically seemed to move so that there was a deceptively calmer side to him, yet just as well, that aura of something cold lingered around him. Behind the glisten of his eyes, behind that strange and twinkling voice, Armin could see something behind it. But he just couldn't seem to manage to see one part of his feature long enough to figure it out. The boy's eyes kept changing ever so slightly, his face was completely unreadable! He was like the most frustrating book in which you were trying to find your favourite page in, while blindfolded. That small clip of text which Armin was desperately trying to locate.

He was giving absolutely no chance to find it.

So Armin did what would have been the next best thing. He let his eyes move along the length of the blade which the boy was holding.

It didn't seem like most normal most blades. The double edged lengths shined out with that strange tone and lighting of colour, but something else seemed to be dominant, a dark aura glowing and glancing off it. How most normal blades would glisten and glow brighter, this one seemed to draw the light in, like it was trying to shine but on it's own terms. By taking out the light around it and glowing its own way.

The boy shifted the blade slightly and Armin was a flash of light slide down it before the boy span out another length sword and pointed it at Eren's face.

The handle was wound black leather that had a lining of silver stars embalmed into the material. _Morgenstern... why does that sound familiar?_ He frowned inwardly, trying to place the name and why it meant something to him. "What are you? Are you with the Omega clan? The hound runners? The Deplhinine worshipers? Or just a bunch of puppies that strayed too far from home." His voice curled around Armin's head and filled him completely. Looking into him with eyes that were the deadliest and harshest, but there also seemed to be something else behind it.

"Wh-What are you doing!"

All suddenly turned and the silver haired boy's eyes softened as he took in the sight of the young boy who had been flooded out of the Titan's stomach with Armin. The kid was small and looked so completely broken and lost in a world where nothing seemed to be making sense any more. The boy's ember red eyes seemed to be drowned out by the fresh tears which were making their way down his face. His damp crimson hair was matted with the blood of those who were inside of the Titan.

No seven year old should have that look frozen across their face.

This was the boy's home which was burning around him. His family, predictably was with the destroyed corpse of his mother inside that now dead Titan which was now melting apart, letting it's flesh dissolve and fall away in clumps to the side, showing clean white ribs and a skeleton.

Armin and Eren hadn't been much older themselves when they had witnessed something similar to their own home. "Jasmine." The silver haired boy stated.

Once more another sword was pointed between Armin's eyes as the boy turned towards the seven year old. "Don't you do anything to him!" Armin screamed.

" _Bonjour le petite Garcon._ _Je veux que vous restiez calme pour moi." (translation: Hello small one. I want you to stay calm for me.)  
"Je suis juste peur!" _The boy exclaimed, only realising after a moment that he seemed to have slipped into the other words. _(translation: But I am scared!)_  
 _"Je comprends, mais vous devez être courageux juste un peu plus longtemps." (translation: I understand, but you must be brave just a little longer.)_  
"What the hell?" Eren stared with wide eyes.  
"How do you know that language?" The boy whimpered, sniffling softly as he looked like suddenly, there may be some hope, however small it was.

The silver haired boy, what had his name been... Henry? Harry? Whatever his name was, he seemed to have stuck some silent accord with the boy. "Because it was passed down to me, just as it was to you."  
"We still have a job to do." Jasmine stated looking Eren over with a complete hypnotised but her voice was lighter than the breeze which drifted through, wafting the metallic stench of fresh blood into them.  
"Get your hands off him! Step away from the kid! He's just a boy!" Armin screamed, he looked over at Eren who had fresh blood dripping from his hand and down his wrist. _Damn it, this is a bad time for that not to be working!_

But Harry only looked back at him as though he was completely insane. "You think I'm going to hurt him?"

A momentary lapse of shock burst through his eyes followed by an instantaneous flash of intense anger and growing hatred. All going further in a flash of a second, displacing itself faster than the falling ash. Armin found his confidence himself growing a bit more angry and frustrated as he tried to get his head clear enough to make a plan to deal with this situation. But right now, the best he could do would with what was going on was to keep these two talking.

He squared his jaw and locked gazes with the other boy, tilting his head up and staring with desperation. "You have swords pointed at our necks! You attacked us! Of course we're scared you may hurt him! Now just let him go!"  
"He has nothing to fear from us. He's part of our mission." Harry stated, his hand sliding down to rest on the handle of the sword he had sheathed. The handle was in the shape of a star with a ruby encrusting. It was very beautiful and very artistically made. "And as for you, we just saved your skin." His voice curled from it's soothing whisper to a razor edge like that of the two blades he was carrying.  
"You're have weapons at our throats!"  
"Because I don't trust you."

Jasmine was the one who had spoken this time. Her eyes locked coldly onto Armin, while her heel dug deeper onto Eren's chest, making the boy cry out slightly. "What are you. I know the Omega clan were looking for new people but-"

Harry slowly parted from the side of the boy, after having taken off his jacket and wrapped it around the kid's shoulders for warmth. His eyes were still their kaleidoscope of changing emotions, constantly never giving Armin a chance to get a read on one thought process or idea which may be going through the boy's head.

Suddenly his hand curled around Armin's collar and hoisted the boy off his knees so they were just beneath eye level. Their gazes locked and unwavering as ash blew towards them.

Everything seemed to slow down as Harry looked him over. His eyes seemed to pierce far deeper than any dagger, weapon or force ever could. They completely demolished beneath his skin and into his very soul. Searching him out completely and indifferently as though Armin was just a toy to him. "Listen, I have not slept for a couple of days. I've been hunting down Titans and now I've got to go and explain to a boy that his parents and family are dead, his home is obliterated and that he will never get to see them again." His eyes for the first time revealed just how exhausted they were, and more frighteningly how full of hatred and anger they were.

It was amazing to think that the orbs of pure darkness, the eyes which looked into Armin's soul right now and inspired fear, that boiled over with hatred, that were an inferno of loathing was the same person who a second ago had held such a complete calm mask over himself.

He jerked Armin forward so that his voice was only audible to him. His lips sent tingles across the other blonde and trembles down Armin's spine as lips brushed his ears. "If you're a Omega... if you belong to the Delphinine's... if your even just a hound runner. I promise you. I swear, I will make you wish that Titan had killed you. Because I will make your death as painful as possible."

His voice was so seductively soft, sweet, calm, purring like a loving cat, yet his voice was the coldest and most malicious sound that had ever wrecked through Armin.

Armin's eyes began to slowly widen as fear began to thrill through him. At the same time, he couldn't understand why, but his heart was picking up pace faster and faster, not just for the reason of the fear. Something else was making his blood flow pick up. Maybe it was because the other boy was so close to him, maybe it was because of the way the boy wielded his voice like a seductive weapon. "What do I have to tell you! We're not! We were out on a scouting mission! We're just scouts! We come out from our town and fight off the Titans! That simple! We saw the fires and a small squad of us broke off to see what was wrong! We came across the village!"

Armin tried to focus his mind through the growing sense of fear and noticed Harry's breathing stuttered ever so slightly.

"Who are you!"

Harry lazily looked over to where Eren had shouted at him and his sister.

The ink haired boy glared at them both, though his eyes were still a little hung up looking at Jasmine. Something in them seemed unable to do anything but linger on her slightly. His eyes were still circled with blood. His palms sliced open and now he was coated in a thin layer of ash which lined his torn clothes and hair. He tried to push himself up slightly but found the point of the sword restricted him to the very smallest of movements. "You corner us! We were only watching our backs! We tried to help out these people! We tried to save them! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU-"

Silence filled the air with an arc of blood as Jasmine kicked her boot cleanly into the side of Eren's face.

Harry's eyes bore further into Armin's before he let go slowly. "EREN!" The blonde screamed, moving away from Harry but only finding that a wave of pain exploded through his body, setting his nerves on fire and making him cry out.  
"Your leg is hurt." He stated.

Armin looked down to see the thick impression of a wide tooth mark set along the side of his leg where the Titan must have bit him earlier. The adrenaline and high of the moment must have distracted him from it. But now it would pose a problem. How would he be able to get out of here.

Harry grabbed the sword in the right sheath of his belt and flipped it into his palm, letting the blade catch the light momentarily before his fingers curled around the handle. "Wait? What are you doing?!" Armin's eyes widened as the other boy wielded the weapon with an impassive face and cold set eyes.

The sword raised in a deadly arc.

Armin braced for the cold metal to come and slash him apart. To slit his throat, to slice him apart, what ever fate that it had decided to end his life by.

But no pain came.

After opening his eyes from the tight closed grimace they had been frozen in, he saw that the blade had not even scratched his skin in the lightest form.

The right of his trouser leg was cut off just above his thigh in a perfect and clean slice.

Armin stared for a moment, staring as though he could see some kind of wound which wasn't there. But there was absolutely nothing! The skin hadn't been touched in the smallest bit! It was astounding! His mind began reeling off the capabilities, the skill, the intensity of the focus which must have gone into honing a skill like that. To be able to wield the weapon in that way.

It explained how he was able to cut into the Titan and get them out of it.

But he still just couldn't understand how-

"Many years of practice. Long hours into the nights. Luck. A few life or death situations to wake me up to realise just how much in this world a skill like it would be needed... and a lot of practice dummies." Harry mumbled the last part though he knelt down now next to Armin's leg, looking over the wound critically, inspecting it from every possible angle before he reached up to his shoulders and tore the sleeves away from his shirt. "Jasmine." He didn't even need to look up as he caught her jacket which she tossed to him without a moments hesitation. _The team work between those two... they don't even need to speak to be able to work together! But I guess that helps in his case. So what... he reads minds and-  
_ "No I don't read minds and thank you. We do take deep pride in our team work skills." He kept those strange eyes on the wound as he folded the jacket into a pillow. "Now lean back, one of your morons tried to use a agent on their weapon. I need to clean your blood." His face became as readable as a blank slate of stone.

Armin did as he was told, watching as Harry tied one of the ripped sleeves around the area just above the bite mark. "Poison doesn't work on Titans. They can regenerate and heal themselves far faster than it takes for the poison to even begin to cause a state of damage to their blood supply. Just be ready okay? This may feel a bit... strange. If it gets too much, just say so and I will quickly give you something to help relieve the pain. He reached behind his belt pulling out a small vial, about the length of his index finger. The liquid was completely clear, though when the light caught on it, it became as colourful as Harry's eyes.

Removing the cork, he pushed his finger over the lid and let the liquid place a single drop along his lips. He left out a slightly shaky breath. His eyes suddenly beyond focused. "Remember, if it begins to feel too weird, just say something, but I need to clean the blood, if that agent spreads any longer it could be fatally harmful."  
"W-What?! Wh-what are you going to-AH."

Jasmine crouched in front of Eren as the boy sat up and caught his breath. His gaze was a little more focused than usual, as he kept moving his gaze up to meet her eyes. She had a piece of cloth and was dabbing at the blood around his face, trying to clean him off as best she could. "So what, now you're looking after us! A moment ago it seemed like you were going to execute us!"  
"Wouldn't you have said, enough have died today? Enough kids have become orphans. Enough lovers have become widowers. Enough people have lost family? What would be the point in sending you to hell too. The day is to early. Besides, my brother can sniff out a liar from miles away. If we had wanted to kill you, then we would have let your friend die from blood poisoning and you from blood loss." Her eyes flickered up momentarily and Eren finally got a decent enough chance to take a more detailed look at her.

She was certainly beautiful in a dark way. She held herself confidently with complete certainly in every way. Every movement was complete with assurance, knowing that she looked perfect while doing it. Her strange uniform seemed to bring out everything about her. The cold look in her eyes as she examined him. The appearance of her personality which to belong with the contrasting crimson and black. Her lips included in that crimson toning. Her warm skin was a nice difference to the background of cold burning waste.

The fires were beginning to die out now, an ash blanket being all that was left behind. The ruins of the village around them was becoming far more evident as the corpses of Titan skeletons littered the roads. People sat crying under the heavy black cloud of the sky, the sunlight barely managing to even attempt to break through with the rising dawn. "Not enough Titans." Eren finally said quietly. "Not enough Titans have died."

Jasmine froze at that. Her hand freezing where it rested against Eren's cheek, the cloth soaking with water and blood. Eren shouldn't have blushed as he knew it certainly wasn't any sign of affection but only of her lost for a moment in the heavy depths of her thoughts. The very weight of everything around them seemed to be making itself known. "You couldn't have done anything." He finally said quietly. "You did everything you could. It was a surprise attack, none of us were ready for it. You couldn't have-OW!" He barked as her glare shot back to him as she lifted herself back to the world around her. She had pushed slightly harder than necessary against one of the open cuts. Her glare making sure that it was known, she didn't want to talk about it. "You're lucky. They are shallow damage." She said, steering the topic away, but something in her wanted to make it clear and be the last one to close the topic. "I know that we couldn't have done much. But it's our duty. We fight for those who cannot. This village is just another reminder of our failures."

 _Another?_ Eren thought to himself, watching the way that Jasmine seemed to drift off into her own thoughts again. He knew that right now wasn't the best time to chase her up on it, and what she meant. Barely ten minutes ago, she had been completely uncaring whether she would have slit his throat or not.

But still... there was something about this girl. Something that he just couldn't place in his mind as he look at her. It was like while she was close to him, his perception seemed to shift ever so slightly. The first point in his gaze that he always found his eyes going to, was her in front of him. No matter what was going on, he found that he couldn't shift his gaze to stop focusing on her.

It was like when he was focusing during the middle of a battle. He just couldn't seem to shake that feeling.

"There. You're good to go kid." She stated, making him frown as she wrung out a wet cloth. _Kid?!_ They looked the exact same age!  
"So you must not be from around here." He began, trying to get into the reason that she had seemed so implacable in recognising his uniform. Most people would have recognised it, hell! He hadn't thought there was anyone who didn't recognise it! The stories of the scouts who go out and fight the Titans was heard everywhere! But still... something she and that boy had mentioned? The Omega Clan? The Delphinine worshippers? The hound runners? He had never heard of absolutely any of them!

So why did they seem so familiar with them, and not any of the scouts?

Jasmine paused for a moment, leaning back in her seat she had made on the remains of which had been a stone wall of a house. She had now taken a sideways seat on it, letting one leg dangle down without a care as she stared up at the long black cloud which seemed to reach every horizon of sight. She reached behind her and pulled her hair free so it caught in the breeze and began to sway ever so softly. She pulled off her jacket and let it drape over one shoulder making the insignia on the back clear for the first time.

It was a pair of two black wings draped and overlapping each other on a star.

"Strange insignia..." He said quietly.  
"Which question would you rather I answer first?" Her voice cut through him, making him startle ever so slightly.

He made a mental note that he would have to be careful around her. Ears like that heard far more than just the words which escaped into the air of conversation. "We come from a village. Over the mountains and forests." She began quietly, staring up at the sky. "Far away from here. About a months journey. But we haven't been home for some years now." Her eyes and gaze became distant, as though the thoughts of her home seemed to draw her back away from the scene of disaster around them.  
"That can't be possible!" Eren frowned. "I heard the stories! The last of our kind were rounded up and put into the cities as a last defence!"  
"You're right. But there are some homes which even your city don't know about." Jasmine closed her eyes and lent her face back, as though she was bathing in sunlight and not the still ember and low lit fires of the village.  
"How did you manage to build walls to keep the Titans out-"  
"We didn't need walls." She said casually.  
"You're lying!"  
"Our home was not in the sunlight as yours was, kid." She said with a sharp glare. Her eyes burst open so quickly that Eren flinched back at the sharpness and the darkness behind them which were fuelled to indicate just how much this was beginning to annoy her. "Our village was buried, we used the warmth of the underground to kindle our bones. We channelled the light of the sun and used underground reservoirs for drinks. We never lived in fear of the Titans fearing us... but a fear which came true the longer time passed by." She trailed off for a moment, seeming to stare through Eren once more as though he was only a ghost of her attention.  
"What fear was that?"

She stayed quiet for a moment, still lost behind the silent memories she seemed unwilling or too nervous to share. "It means my family's name." She finally said.  
"What?"  
"The symbol on our jackets. How you wear the symbol of what I take it, is your scouts?" She looked over at him, waiting for him to confirm what she already knew. "We wear our symbols by our families. Each family is forced to wear their own colours, each are assigned to a different part of our home, you're identified and recognised by it. No one cares for your name, only your families. It is drilled into you from birth. _You are worth nothing except for that of the strength f your families history._ "  
"That's horrible!"  
"That was why we survived." She stated coldly.  
"And what about your brother? You and him I mean? Why aren't you at your home."  
"My brother and I..." Jasmine looked at her brother for a long moment before letting out a soft sigh. "That is a long story. A story which one day I may even tell you. But for now, know that we are simply passing through, moving where we are needed most. At the moment, that seems to be here. My brother is skilled with a sword and is charmed with a green thumb to be able to put together a good amount of medicine with the various medical herbs he can grow. That was what was passed down to him and he takes pride in his skills. He makes a good carer for the ill and a keen soldier in the field." She smiled fondly at him.  
"And what about you? What skills do you take such pride in."

Jasmine gazed into Eren's eyes for a long moment. Her face completely blank and devoid of any trust or anything which would have even given the notion towards her thinking about telling him what ever it was she thought she couldn't have told him.

"A-Agh!"

Both turned their heads over to where Armin was laid back, though he had propped himself up slightly on one elbow. His eyes half lidded as his breaths drew like stutters in a public speech. Harry was crouched over Armin's bare right leg and had his lips against the wound. "Uh... what?!" Eren stared with wide eyes. "Armin!? Are you blushing!"

The blond seemed to find himself unable to answer that at the moment. It felt as though a inferno was burning through his body with the cool of a winter blizzard just behind it to relax his muscles from their deep ache. The wound felt as though it was no longer the centre of pain on his body, but now the centre point of exploding bliss which was now causing him to find that he couldn't want anything more than those lips against his thigh.

Harry pulled back slightly looking at the deep cherry blush which was running across Armin's cheeks. "Are you okay? If it hurts I need you to tell me."  
"N-No. Your lips-No! It's okay!" He turned a brighter pink but Harry simply rose an eyebrow before going bac to sucking out the infected blood and spitting it to the side. Armin really couldn't imagine a better feeling wrecking through his body, there couldn't be a better feeling.

But the way those lips caressed his skin... that wasn't exactly helping his blush either.

He couldn't help the slight whimper which escaped when Harry's lips pulled back. "I hope that didn't hurt to me." Harry said softly, looking over the wound before reaching into the pack on his belt and pulling out fresh bandaging and setting it to one side. "You may feel a few groggy side effects, they won't last, but mostly it will mean you will feel very sleep for a while, or a bit tipsy." Harry gave a soft smile then watched as Armin gave a responding one.

He closed his eyes slowly and listened to the effect of his body. It felt as though he was resting on an endless flow of water. The sound of Harry nearby with a herb bowl, grounding together various leafs and plants was almost musical. The crackle of the fire was a warm melody. "I feel so... strange." He whispered softly, half opening his eyes again and looking over to the other boy.

The seven year old boy was sat not too far away, watching Harry's movements with keen eyes, though Harry himself went about the work with complete confidence. Smiling to himself at his patient. "The medicine I put on my lips. It's a little concoction that I made. It's a very dilute muscle relaxant with my own unique little cleanser. It means that while your muscles relax, it can move through your body faster and clean out your blood faster."  
"Why use your lips?"  
"Because of this."

Harry suddenly lent forward and place a kiss against Armin's neck. Instantly the blond tense up but as the lips massaged against the skin and Armin couldn't help but let out a soft whimper relaxing into the touch. "That's why." Harry whispered softly. "Your muscles contracted and then relaxed, drawing the medicine straight off my lips while I could get the infected blood out your system."  
"I-It wasn't because you wanted t-to kiss me?" Armin whispered then instantly slammed his hands over his mouth and blushing bright red.  
"And that would be some of the side effects." Harry laughed. "Don't worry."

Armin hissed out between his teeth as the boy tipped his fingers into the milky coloured paste from inside the bowl. It stung for a couple of seconds as Harry gently ran it along the length of the wound. He made a gentle hushing sound, softly evening it out "It will sting for a while, but it will help." He set to the job of wrapping the bandage around the blonde's leg till he was happy that there was enough support. "Okay, so we've got to get moving."

The red haired boy was instantly at his side and was given an amused smile. "You hold onto that jacket for me okay Kiddo?" He ruffled the damp crimson hair and the boy nodded, pressing closer to his side.

An distant sound like an explosion of thunder broke across the land.

Even Armin in his sedated state suddenly shot his head up to look as in the distance, silhouettes shifted against the early morning.

Harry turned his gaze over his shoulder to his sister. _We can't stay here longer._ He poured his words into his gaze and nodded in the direction of the horses they had arrived on. _You think we can put enough distance between us and them in time?_ He seemed uncertain for a moment as his sister seemed to glare in the direction of towering giants.  
 _If we can't._

Jasmine's glare became darker and deeper. The hatred boiling in the pits of them would have made any human turn and run for their lives screaming.

 _If they do catch up with us... then all you have to do is leave it to me._ She tossed him her only sword and he caught it expertly, holding it out to Eren.  
"What about the others in the village!" Eren exclaimed.  
"They will have been taken underground. There are various passages, even the underground sewers. The others will have got the people evacuated by now." Harry stated.  
"How can you be sure!"  
"I can't!" The silver haired blond gritted his teeth.  
Jasmine clicked her knuckles and neck with a fresh dark glare. "Can you ride?" She looked over at Eren who gave a nod. "Good. Keep a hold of that sword and the kid."  
"You're going to leave your sister defenceless!?" Eren shouted as Jasmine shoved him in the direction towards the horses.  
"You may not know a lot of things about us." Harry began, taking a moment to whisper something quiet in that other language to the boy who nodded, looking slightly more confident. "You should learn that, most importantly." He climbed onto the saddle of the horse, wrapped his arms around Armin's waist in front of him and holding the reins. Hyeh!" He bellowed, taking off with a strong gallop as the horses reared then rocketed forward along the ash ridden path.

Jasmine stood strong and hard shouldered, glaring towards the oncoming monsters as lightning arced through the clouds above her and thunder boomed like a monster.

She stood there for a moment before turning on the spot and taking the last horse they had brought with them and falling in line behind the others.

"What?" Eren barked. "What do I have to learn."  
"My sister is never defenceless." Harry grinned.

Both looked over their shoulders as for the first time, in the darkness of the early morning and the lightning of the storm, Eren felt true trembles of fear spill down his spine at the sight of this girl.


	3. The daring escape

**Hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Thank you to all of you again! Have a lovely day/night wherever you are! It made me smile so much to see all the new followers for the story ^_^ Warning, story contains: Boyxboy, extreme violence, character death, OC's, gore, mentions of past abuse etc and ratings will be turned up in the later chapters**

* * *

Lightning and thunder roamed as the morning sky was blacker than the night, tainted and spread with intense black smoke which was thicker than the most concentrated and darkest ink.

Harry kept the cloak of his hood up to drown out the moonlight shade of his hair as he kept his arms tightly around Armin and on the reins of the steed which was now going full out gallop across the ash blanketed ground of the ruined village. Far in front of them in the what seemed and felt like the distant horizon was the large gates of the village. They were hard to make out from this distance, the haze and deep billowing black smoke made it pretty much hard to make out anything around them.

The two siblings had found themselves resorting back to their instincts on sound and slight glances from the corner of their eyes to try and make sure that nothing was going to come crashing into them.

But it was because of the sound which now thundered above the fires and the roars of collapsing houses, it was because of that sound, the two siblings and those they had rescued, were now stampeding through the night at a break neck speed. The stomps and loud crashes behind them of ground tearing up and breaking apart was all that they needed to know as they could feel the empty hungry gaze locked onto them.

Jasmine had thrown her brother a cloak not long after they had set off, and now as it whipped out behind them, it became startling how both siblings were so different and yet so similar in appearance.

At least that was what Armin thought as her stared at Harry.

The boy's hood kept steady atop the large and stubborn spikes of pointed hair which bristled like a nest of cobras. His dark cloak spread out behind him catching the breeze of the air but still his eyes were locked determinedly in front of him with a cold fixation of nothing and no sense of visible hesitation. Right now in the reflection of the infernos, his eyes looked like a writhing and explosion of crimson and orange. Like blood had somehow found a way to turn to fire. But with the cloak which spread out behind him like an almighty pair of ink black wings, while the light in the inferno and the glimmer aura of midnight wrapped around his peach like skin making it look tired and pale but yet define his body.

He was like a fallen angel going for redemption.

Armin turned his gaze away as a blush exploded along his cheeks.

That medicine must have really been messing about with his head.

But he was quickly brought back to his senses as he heard the sound of a sword scratching against it's scabbard.

Harry barely even glanced down at the other blonde, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead.

Armin barely recognized that the boy had shoved the reins into his hand or now wrapped the cloak around him as Harry stretched his arm and winced, but all the same he took off out the saddle like an bullet from a gun with his sibling.

He roared up through the black smoke.

It was like he truly was flying.

His blades both gripped tightly in his palms as he squared himself up with the glowing hungry eyes which were locked onto the group. "Armin! Get your head back together!"

For a moment Armin thought that it had been Harry who had shouted that, since the boy had been watching him out the corner of his eye, but as he was forced to turn his gaze away he became aware that the voice was a lot more sharper.

Eren bellowed at the boy watching as Armin's unfocused eyes slowly slid back over to him. He was holding onto the small kid with all his might as he edged the horse to pick up the speed as silhouette of the towering Titan was getting closer through the thick black smog. Eren went instinctively to reach for his gear but knew that it was smashed into a bunch of unusable pieces. He wouldn't be able to get a decent enough height to go for the back of the neck on the murderer.

His eyes fell on Jasmine who was staring after her brother. Concern was painted behind her eyes as she remained in a quite and yet studious gaze, watching how her brother spun through the air like a gymnast then came crashing back down, gliding on his gear as he kept pace with the horses. No longer was he that peachy tone as he was before. But now Eren could see that the boy was deathly pale, like the blood had drained out of his face completely. He knew that he couldn't change at that moment, he was too weak still. He had no doubt that the boy could handle killing a Titan. He had honestly thought that he was going to lose his best friend after watching Armin be swallow... but then that boy.

Eren watched from the corner of his eye as the silver haired boy seemed to trying to at least slow the titan down by bounding off burning debris and bringing it across the road and path which they were being followed along. But all that it was doing was just making him more tired, buying them a few seconds at most. The Titans regenerated far faster than it would bother them.

It was only as he launched his hooks onto the road either side of the horse and landed back on the steed, taking the reins back from Armin did he turn to look at his siblings with a grave look. "It's a fourteen meter!" He called out and immediately Jasmine and Eren's head snapped up. Both of the two knew what this meant. "I can''t-" He paused for a moment as the words crawled back into his mouth as he eyed Eren suspiciously as the boy thought better of sharing a secret with someone he had only just met.  
"Will you be okay?" She asked quietly, slowly coming to stand on her horse's back. Her balance was completely perfect and her gaze was stony cold and impassive. Her brother wouldn't meet her eyes and she gritted her teeth slightly as her shoulders became tense. "Well then. I guess I better make this quick huh?" She clicked her neck and knuckles before hurling herself into the black cloud.

Eren stared incredulously at the boy. "What?! YOU JUST LET HER GO OUT THERE BY HERSELF!"  
"You doubt my sister?" Harry frowned deeply, a glare flashing into his eyes as his fingers twitched noticeably towards his chest. Eren barely managed to notice the movement in the dark but only kept his gaze on the boy.  
"You coward! Just because you can't face the thing off by yourself, you run! You would rather let your sister get killed fighting that thing-"

Both fell silent as an explosion filled the village, momentarily blasting away all pretense of a cloud, sending a soaring high column of sapphire and dark blue light across the ground and through the black clouds, momentarily letting light pass through. As the sky itself acted like it had been impaled and violently stabbed, leaving Eren to stare in amazement at the tumultuous explosion. The feel of blistering heat was like nothing he had ever felt before but yet seemed so very familiar to him.

"No way." Armin gasped, peaking his head out from around Harry's shoulder as he studied the way that this blue colour rolled with energy, fire and sparked around them like lightning. "That's impossible! I didn't think that there could be- Hey are you alright?!" The boy sobered up immediately as he watched Harry slump slightly forward, the sparkle of light in his eyes seemed to be replaced with a bitter and harsh pain. Like the boy was being whipped and lashed over and over. But instead of responding Harry just gripped the reins tighter but gritted his teeth, trying to regain himself. "Yeah. Fine. Eyes on the front Blondie." Harry snarled, his eyes showing a sense of smugness as he watched the way that the others were awed by the sight.

But then as the light faded, the heavy black smoke set back in immediately, hiding the village back from sight. "What the hell was that!" Eren shouted.

For a moment the only sound was that of the fires in the village. No sound of thunderous footsteps but only the houses crying out as their collapse was coming.

Then a low but loud meticulous growl began to build up. Like the fall of rocks before an avalanche.

Two luminous sharp discs, like eyes, slowly illuminated the black cloud cover above them all.

"That's not possible." Eren whispered quietly, staring with disbelief.  
"Neither is your sense of focus!" Harry shouted over as up ahead, the worst could have happened.

In the line of their path, now blocking their way stood two nightmares given form, both easily the same size as their friend who was now caught by Jasmine.

Jasmine was too busy. Harry looked in no shape to be barely to do much more than breathe. Eren was covered in blood and Armin was still half dazed.

"Well... This seems a good as day to die as any." Harry growled quietly.

 _ **-Break-**_

Eren gripped the reigns of his horse tightly, looking for a way for them to get out of their massacre which was approaching at a long striding pace.

But the truth was... there was no escape. No gear to help get them out of the situation. His Titan change wasn't working for what ever reason! They had already lost one member, or so it seemed to appear as there was no word from that Jasmine girl, but his mind refused to accept the truth which was directly in front of him.

The roads were blocked on all sides by piled high debris. The horses wouldn't make it over the flaming wreckage. Not by a long shot. No weapons. No plan. No escape.

But still he felt a defiant fire blazing inside of him.

Harry smirked the side of his mouth as he watched the surge of defiance passing through the other boy. He noted every single ounce of hatred, anger and loathing. He was so far into his evaluation and the chaotic mess of his thoughts that he barely heard Eren. "Excuse me?" He called out.  
"Pass me your gear." Eren shouted over suddenly but Harry only raised an eyebrow.  
"Really now? I've only just met you, we haven't even been on a date yet!" He smirked even deeper.  
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Eren barked.  
"Well no. Not really. I have my virtue to think of." Harry mockingly placed his hand over his heart, looking paler in the firelight.  
"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME YOUR WEAPON!" Eren bellowed but now Harry frowned. All joke and pretense leaving his face cold and impassive as he looked down at the other boy.  
"Touch my swords and I swear to god, you will wish those Titans are what kill you."

Eren was momentarily taken back by the cold savagery that he barely noticed Harry climbing to his feet, copying the pose his sister had done before she had vanished into that light. "No way." He whispered watching the boy with wide eyes.  
"No, just messing with you." He smirked. He pulled slightly on the reigns as he lent forward. "Pegasus, keep them safe!"  
"He's a horse!" Eren said. "HE CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!"  
"Don't let this one go running off." Harry said before turning his eyes back to Armin. "When you're drinking tonight, remember our names please... Harry and Jasmine Morgenstern." He gave a weak smile before launching into the air and flipping on the currents.

For a moment Eren thought that the boy was just going to come sailing back down.

From the heavy black smoke which clouded the darkness a enormous fist came sailing out, it's fingers closed tightly and unwavering from it's grip as it caught the grappling hooks which sailed out in time to meet it.

"They timed that?!" Eren bellowed out, staring in awe as he watched a large body shift in the darkness. Those giant sapphire orbs shifting as an ear splitting screech filled the air.

The fist vanished like an eruption of steam after having thrown the blond boy forward, with now Jasmine following close behind her brother with focused and narrowed her eyes. Her body language now showing heavy exhaustion. She looked just as ready to collapse as her brother! Now both of them were willing to sacrifice themselves to prove a slight distraction. Two dinners for two hungry Titans. Just long enough to get past the tall stone gates of the village and to get back to their own home?

Eren screamed out in anger while the three steeds pulled closer to each other, forming a line as the two siblings sailed over head with impassive faces. Their weapon wielding hands out stretched for each other as they glanced only momentarily. "I'm not letting them die for us!" He shouted, whipping the reigns, but the horse didn't respond.  
"They must be trained." Armin said, staring towards the two as the Titans brought up their hands to grab the two siblings. Their interest momentarily taken off the road as they turned, making the ground shake as they did so.

Harry brought a sword down in time to slash an eye open on one of the Titans which roared out in agony, while Jasmine herself managed to nearly sever the Titan's hand from it's wrist.

The sheer amount of strength and mental focus to have done that astounded Eren to even think of.

Both brother and sister kept up a moment of quick burst movements, lashing out causing an irritating wound which would give them a split second to quickly move and dart away as they were gnashed at by giant teeth or attempted to be grabbed by those humongous hands. They worked within a close in space, jumping mainly from head to head or shoulder to shoulder. Eren wondered just exactly how their gear was still working after all that they had done so far.

But it was when Harry swore out loud after narrowly dodging a giant hand, Eren began to see just how tired both siblings were becoming. All the while as his mind desperately was trying to figure out a way to help them, some part of his mind thought: _If they are killed now... there is not a full certainty that we may get out without the Titans getting us._

Armin although horrified by what was going on in front of him was thinking the same.

"They need help!" Eren bellowed out.  
"GO!" Jasmine screamed back. "KEEP GOING- HARRY!"

She turned her focus back in time to her brother get caught in the vice like grip of the titan and instinctively, turn his head towards the small pouch at the top of his shirt. "DON'T!" She screamed and leaped over, but found herself encased in darkness as a fist closed around her body, forcing her to cave in on herself and crush herself into a ball like shape.

Eren went to lunge off his horse but Armin only grabbed his friend by his collar, pulling with all the might left in his muscles, to keep the boy from running. "G-GO!" Harry shouted down at them. Straining, even from here, obviously biting so hard into his lip that he was drawing fresh blood. _He's trying to stop from screaming so we won't come back for them-  
_ "WELL WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Jasmine shouted, fighting with the last of her failing strength to keep the two hands from closing shut on her. Her eyes were wild and wide, filled with blood lust and rage, but no horror or fear. Only like that of an hungry warrior or hound which had just been unleashed into battle. "GET GOING!" She shouted at Eren.

But still it was only Armin who saw the true message painted behind her eyes as her brother fought of screaming out in agony and the girl herself tried to keep herself alive long enough to see them safely pass. _'Don't let our deaths be for nothing.'_ Her eyes seemed to whisper to him. _'Let us have done some actual good'._ So turning his head away, the blonde boy could look no longer as he pulled on the reigns for the horse to speed up.

The last thing Jasmine saw before the darkness closed out her, was through the fingers of the Titan, the three horses ploughed through the village gateway and storm out into the outside fields of the town.

Harry screamed out in frustration as he tried desperately to move his swords, but with his strength failing him and with an overwhelming suffocation coming from his chest, he found that his body was failing him. Leaving him only to stare up at the shaggy haired monster which looked down at him with giant brown eyes. No emotion behind them. No expression. Like a toddler in control of an adult body..

And all he could think was how much he regretted... that he would take this bastard down with him to the grave.

The skin along the Titan's cheeks ripped wide open, like stitches becoming unfastened all at once. He tried to turn his mouth to his pouch on his shirt which contained the pill which was only to be taken in situations like this. The one thing he had always wished that he would never have to use. But with the overwhelming grip crushing on his ribs and chest, he could do nothing other than scream out in agony. "IF I'M GOING DOWN YOUR THROAT! I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT I GIVE YOU ONE BAD FUCKING CASE OF INDIGESTION YOU BASTARD!" He bellowed, now free to explode his rage and pain.

The Titan only stared at him blankly before bringing it's hand up to it's mouth.

"I will die with honor-"

As darkness enveloped him he felt himself pause. Something sharp piercing just above his waist, stopping before the skin, while in front of him in the darkness of the Titan's mouth, something glinted and flashed for the briefest of seconds.

The grip around him slacked.

Then with a sudden and sharp sensation, he was yanked back through the air, suddenly finding that his arm was wrapped over the shoulder of someone else. A hand strong wrapped around him so he wouldn't fall as he seemed to be rising through the air once again. The wind hitting him strongly in the face. "Uh... I'm not complaining or anything but-"

He paused for a long second. "KAON YOU SON OF A BITCH. WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU! GREAT SENSE OF TIMING!"  
"That's how you talk to your leader?" A voice joked quietly next to him with a grin clearly plastered in it's tone.  
"If this is how you treat your second in command, then yeah!" Harry barked, still catching his breath as he watched the remains of the Titan smolder and collapse in front of him..

 _ **-Break-**_

Armin was still left half dazed and was trying to comfort the crying boy who was calling out to his saving angels, half sobbing, half silently praying for their safety though the older two knew that from their own experience that there was absolutely no chance of getting away from a Titan once it had you swallowed... but then again. All three of them were a example to have being able to survived what should have been death for them.

"We need to turn back!" Eren snapped.

Armin turned his gaze over to the other boy who had that murderous dark glare still blazing in his eyes which were hidden behind the falls of his hair. Eren's clothes were still layered with ash and torn in a lot of places. The insignia on his back was barely even recognizable anymore. "They sacrificed themselves so that we could get away! Besides! These horses are trained! They will only respond to those two!"  
"THEY'RE HORSES!" Eren shouted.  
"How would we be able to-"

 _BANG_

 _BANG BANG_

Armin paused, the blood draining from his face with horror. _No... there's just no way. We got away from them! WE HAD GOT AWAY FROM THEM!_

The horses whined loudly as the ground behind them burst open and a hand swiped out, narrowly missing them. A mess of black hair caught in the sunlight for a second before it vanished back down beneath the ground with a loud roar. Armin cried out warning to Eren who glared foully over his shoulder with barred teeth as large cracks began to form in the ground, closing faster and faster with their speed. "Abnormal!" Armin warned.  
"We can't out run it!"  
"WHAT CAN WE DO-"

For the first time, both boys became ultimately weighed down with terror and realization. No longer their defiance burning like an outright inferno but instead both of them locking gazes finding that they couldn't do anything but just stare. Their bodies not responding to them.

Not even as the wide mouth face of a ten meter abnormal came bursting out the ground, opening wider and wider in an attempt to claim all three boys in one gulp. It's eyes were wide and it's body flat like a spider, it's wrists turned forward and pulled close presumably so it could dig and glide faster underground.

Still both just held each other's gazes, completely frozen as the mouth began to close on them. _This is it._ Armin thought. _This is actually it-_

The thing's mouth snapped shut but suddenly it seemed as though the thing's head had fallen limp, while the three horses skidded to a halt, digging their feet in deeply to the ground. till the three were forced to face the giant blank eyes of the Titan which was gazing blankly. It's jaw slowly opening but the body itself was completely still. "W-What the hell?" Eren whispered.  
"Well kiddos, it's your lucky day isn't it?"

Eren blinked his eyes a couple of times as on the head of the titan, a silhouette was blackened by the look of the sun which burst through the clouds like claws. It was only as the person shifted slightly and grinned with a hand resting at his side, the other wielding a lengthy great sword which whirred and ticked quietly. He wore the same colored jacket as Eren and Armin, with the same insignia, though his was split in two. On one side of the insignia was the scouts corps symbol but on the other half was a giant sideways faced on bull. It's eyes narrowed but with wickedly sharp horns.

His eyes were a startling light and dark blue, sapphire one moment and then the next turquoise. The light seemingly making the tones like the change in the ocean. The look behind his gaze was amused, but stern as he flexed his wielding arm and let the strong muscles speak for themselves quietly as the blade seemed to piece itself apart like reversing a puzzle, shortening itself, revealing the various cogs and gears in the great sleek metal till he was holding a regular sized blade.

His mouth was a smirk in his softly pale skin, which made the sleek and dark brown of his hair stand out better. The left side of it buzz cut short while the top and right of it swept down in a bit of a longer length, turning itself out like a curtain of spikes. His pose was dominant and strong... though that tended to be how one looked when standing on top of the head of a dead Titan, wielding a great weapon.

Armin frowned to himself. "W-What?"

A loud scream echoed from the hills behind them as three more cloaked figures landed, though had Armin not blinked, he would have thought that they had risen out of the shadows themselves. Each of the three was covered, revealing not a single feature. "The two are alright?" The boy asked, looking towards the three with expectation.

He was obviously their leader.

One stepped forward and whispered something quietly, making him nod his head slowly. "I guess we can wait till later for introductions." He turned back to Armin and Eren as though just remembering they were still there. "But I guess the situation demands for some sort of response. Fine." He slowly jumped down with grace and landed silently on the ground, light as a feather blown on a breeze.

Armin and Eren glanced between each other. "Excuse me- So who are you-" He fell silent as the man looked both of them over with a stern look.  
"So you two are the reason for what happened back there." His hand slowly moved to the weapon at his waist. "It's my job to work them to death. Not yours."  
"Did they survived?!" Armin exclaimed, hope obviously painted in his voice with his disbelief.  
"That is not what you need to know just yet." The boy shut him down quickly and nodded over to the others who scattered quickly, gliding across the plains of the grass as though it was sheets of ice. "It's not important at the moment."  
"Not important!" Eren bellowed. "Those were your squad! Your soldiers! Of course it matters!"

The nineteen year old boy, (Armin guessed him to be nineteen anyway, he looked so from his appearance), glanced over them one more time, as though weighing something up in his mind against his judgement. "My name is Kaon. ' _Kay-On'_ " He pronounced. "Kaon Taurus. There's a herd of those beasts behind us and my men are tired enough for one day. We will escort you back to the city and then you can debrief me on what happened."

Kaon turned slowly back towards the distance where the Titan's were striding across the ground. His eyes becoming almost glazed over and ancient looking. Weighed down by horrors and sights before him, but still the smile tugged at the edge of his mouth as his hand gripped firmly around his weapon. The head of the titan he had killed rolled away slowly as though some invisible fault line had finally been cut. Kaon couldn't help but smirk even deeper. "After all, if we don't leave now. I'm not sure I'll be able to stop myself till they're all dead."  
"Oh... I like him." Eren grinned quietly as Kaon climbed quickly onto the third, spare steed and led the horses back in the direction of their home.

Still.

The fight and their problems were far from over.

They barely knew, it was only just beginning.


	4. Welcome home

**Hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Thank you to all of you again! Have a lovely day/night wherever you are! It made me smile so much to see all the new followers for the story ^_^ Warning, story contains: Boyxboy, extreme violence, character death, OC's, gore, mentions of past abuse etc and ratings will be turned up in the later chapters.**

* * *

Kaon smirked slightly to himself as his horse came to a slow and steady pacing. In front of them towered the great walls which he had on so many occasions found himself glowering at.

At least underground, he hadn't felt like a rat caught in a bleeding cage.

The tunnels of his home had stretched on for miles on end. They had been in their own little underground hidden world. No titans had ever bothered them and yet they had been trained from birth like soldiers. The weak and helpless weeded out and killed. No mercy given. No exception made. In their underground hell paradise they had been safe and yet always constantly in danger.

And he had paid the price for his ultimate weakness.

But he would have had it no other way.

The towering giants which were the gates were an almighty sight to behold... well for someone who hadn't seen them before at least. How many times had he come here under the cover of the shadows. Slipping in between the gates and the walls to find out information. Constantly worried that the Titans may have finally struck through the barrier and made their way into the city.

He had been the silent warrior often trying to ward off wondering Titans with his soldiers.

While they had been hiding, covering themselves, hidden in the cold and the harsh terrains, those people had been living inside of their walls, protected, content. Yet when their moment had finally come, they had been as about as useful as a knife in a gun fight.

He narrowed his gaze slowly and dismounted his horse, whispering in it's ear and watching as the others dismounted, they themselves stared when the horses walked in line and towards the stables along the length of the wall. He still noticed one horse rather restless, kicking the ground and snorting loudly. _Pegasus, I know you miss your friend._ He thought, turning his gaze over his shoulder.

"NOW YOU'RE GOING TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!"

Kaon tilted himself back, arching his back as the fist sailed out in front of his face, missing him, but still in his reflexes a slow grin slid across his face as Eren's eyes widened. The boy barely had time to throw another punch and shout; "WHAT THE HELL?!" Before Kaon had flipped his body back and now rested himself upside down, holding himself up with his palm.

Others watched as he spun and twisted his body, sending his legs out and kicking Eren in the face, launching the boy back slightly who went tumbling to the ground.

Kaon righted himself and brushed off his shirt. Flexing his fingers slowly and whipping his hair out of his dark eyes which glistened like burning sapphires. He said nothing but slowly slid his feet out slightly, adjusting his stance. His elbows pulled in close to his body and his fingers slid into a tight fist. His eyes burned with amusement as he watched the younger boy.

Eren's eyes burnt with anger, ferocious and wild. His mind painted and possessed by the events which had nearly ravaged his soul and sent him to the grave. His body ached, the blood running down his body was making the ash and the layers of fabric stick painfully down, like his skin may rip away itself. Now this guy, who he didn't even knew, was treating them as though they were prisoners?!

That had been the last straw.

He staggered slightly finding his balance as he stared down at the older boy. Kaon had eyes live jeweled ores. Solid and remorseless. The grin of excitement at the side of his face didn't go unnoticed by Eren which just made the younger boy's blood boil all the more as he glared Kaon down. He rubbed his cheek and wiped away the blood from the side of his mouth, spitting out the rest onto the ground.

"Look kid." Kaon kept that smile at the side of his mouth. "You really don't want to do this." He said smoothly, making Eren's anger sweep over him completely and fully. He saw nothing but red and the boy who was provoking him beyond the point of reason. He was like a raging bull, (which on reflection was quite ironic since Kaon's family symbol was the bull), but still Eren didn't care.

Kaon however studied the boy, the excitement of enjoying a possible good fight was wiped clean behind the mask of his impassive smile. His eyes skirted over the boy taking in every ounce of detail as his mind worked over time as it always did when he was faced with an enemy. Kaon's eyes were first drawn to the calf where Eren seemed to be taking most of his weight off. His stance was unbalanced and his form undisciplined.

 _Strike point one._

Kaon's eyes slid across to the boy's shoulder which Eren kept dipped, unlike the other. Blood trickled down his arm slowly and dripped from his wrist onto the ground. It was weighing him off balance as it looked like the boy may have broken it, if not badly damaged it.

 _Strike point two._

His eyes now caught on the most important bit.

Eren's chest.

His chest rose and fell short quickly, stopping just before his shirt could constrict too much on it.

Inwardly Kaon grinned but still felt disappointing as he realized the full potential of this fight slipping away.

Eren's eyes widen as he could take no more. "NOW GIVE ME THE ANSWERS!" He screamed as he lunged forward.

That's when everything seemed to slow down.

Just as Kaon side stepped out the way bringing his fist down quickly onto the boy's wounded calf with as much force as he could, watching out the corner of his eye as Eren's leg began to flail out of control after Kaon had disturbed the nerve system. Eren's eyes widened but he barely had time to scream out as Kaon brought down a sharp punch with all his might onto Eren's shoulder.

"You should have listened." He whispered quickly before bringing his fist back around and slamming it directly into Eren's lower ribs.

Kaon watched the boy's scream for air as the earlier impact into Eren's shoulder now sent him twisting through the air till he came crashing down on his wounded arm, howling in complete agony. _Dislocation._ Kaon thought. _Kid got lucky._ "There's a reason why we survive out there." He whispered as he looked at Eren writhing on the ground.

Just as he was about to reach out his hand, he barely managed to hear the urgent shout of a member from his squad before two of his cloaked soldiers where suddenly launched into the air behind him in what felt like the blink of an eye. Their blades drawn, one of their members using their preferred dual swords and still trembling as they held off the single attack of one, impassive faced man.

 _He's fast._ Kaon observed.

Then he finally noticed that from under the blood stained cloak, the arm of his soldier was bulging and nearly exploding with a vein as even with the two of them, using three of their strongest blades against this boy's single one?

 _He's strong too._

"Levi?" The black haired boy on the ground, his friend said astounded.

"Now this is interesting!" Kaon grinned from ear to ear.

For a moment it was like the speed which the three had collided was still waiting to take effect as they were still slightly off the ground, their collision having brought them to a complete standstill till Kaon's men took a slight leap back in front of him.

The man's face was completely impassive, like a unreadable mask, clouded over and not daring to reveal a single fact about itself. His eyes were an astounding and nearly complete midnight black with dark grey circles underneath. It was like staring into the abyss of darkness when Kaon studied his eyes for any give away of emotion. Levi wore the standard uniform of the scouters who would wonder out of the city, the only difference being between he and the other's uniform was that he wore a neckerchief and maintained a pristine pose of elegant dominance. "I wondered why the return was taking so long."

Kaon noticed that even Levi's voice was an impassive drawn out cut of sharpness. It was curt, to the point and final but still open in it's observation and gathering as Kaon was looked over.

"Damian. Star." Kaon said quietly to both in front of him. "I've got this." Slowly from his back he pulled out the blade he had been using since he was old enough to slash it into the flesh of another being. The familiar humming of the blade beneath his grip was certainly a comfort but also a reminder to him of how many battles he had been in and won.

"You know." Levi stated, casually reaching up and unfastening on link of the cloak so that it released from his shoulders and billowed behind him onto the ground covering Eren. "We don't stand for this, inside of the walls."  
"Well it's a good thing we're still outside isn't it?" Kaon smirked before Levi made the first lunge.

Both men were startled to find that their mid clash was interrupted slightly as a new one presented it self to each of them.

Levi found a sword it his neck, while Kaon did too. But for the movement, Kaon quickly mirrored the gesture at the red and black cloaked figure next to him, wile Levi copied the gesture with a spare blade. "What do you think you are doing Star. Same for you Nova." Kaon growled slightly, his eyes full of brimmed curiosity.  
"Back down." A soft voice whispered.  
"Not in my nature." The other cloaked whispered in their purring.  
"What is going on here?" Levi frowned.

Then in a split second, it all descended into chaos.

Nova and Star were lunging for their respective opponents, clashing blades as they went so, each of the four fighting with a mania against each other as it almost became a strange dance of twirling, lunges and quick made slashes, with an accompanied music of metal on metal fighting frantically.

The last two hooded cloaked figures of Kaon's squad stood back and watched on with interest.

Both pulled down their hoods to reveal they were both male, looking to be about twenty. The taller paler skinned boy who had army style, buzz cut short hair, kept his arms folded, revealing the intense and built up muscle. His raw strength by itself was intimidating to say the least. He looked as though he could take anyone in that small fight by himself alone and have time spare to fight the others at the same time. His eyes were a dark brown, no where near as harsh as Levi's but more like bark on a tree. He wore the same colour uniform s the rest, but his shirt had no sleeves and those on his jacket were torn off. The symbol on his back was clouded from sight due to the cloak clinging to him.

His gaze became very focused as his eyes moved from the various attacks. Constantly locked onto Kaon, making sure the blade struck no where far near him, or wasn't getting close enough to harm him.

The other boy however, his eyes dared not move from any single individual. His gaze was starving, looking for something, almost as though this was a good show for him, or a interesting book. A slight smile played along the edge of his lips. In the free morning light, his skin almost looked like coco, his fingers flexing and tapping his biceps as his mind was racing at what felt like a hundred miles an hour.

Unlike the others, his jacket had a faint amber shine to it. Like the first boy, the arms were torn away to show the power of his muscles. His shirt was white just like Levi and Kaon, but like his comrades Jasmine and Harry, he tended to wear a black style material which was wrapped around his well toned legs.

"It would be wise to break them apart Damian." The second boy began. "After all, considering our mission. They preferably need not disembowel each other."  
"You know what Star and Nova are like Joshua. Star's loyalty is unconditional, just as Nova's sense of justice is, but both have a drive for fighting. It's in their blood." Damian stated. "I thought that they had been trying to put a better control on it."  
"Ah, but still, how long has it been now for Star-"

Both fell silent as they watched the last thing they expect to have seen happen, during a four way blood for all fight.

As Star moved to parry Levi's blade since he and Kaon were working back to back deflecting the various swift cuts. Star using his dual blades found that he had better chance against Nova than Levi.

But as Nova took a step back, the hidden girl underneath found herself surprised when Star knocking into Levi during his step away and the two ended up crashing together head first.

Or lip first would be a better observation as all four became still for a moment.

"Now? Really?" Kaon sighed.

But as the cloaked figure stepped away, Levi found himself staggering back as a fist punched him square in the face while he was still rather shocked. While he was still staggered he was surprised to find one of the cloaked figures leaping over the other's as the one called Star round house kicked Levi in the chest before trying to hit him with a barrage of slashes. "Don't. Ever. Touch. My. SISTER!" He snarled in a sweetly soft voice.

Armin and Eren who had been off to the side slightly looked up at this point, _Why does that sound familiar?_

"Please excuse them." Kaon smirked as he lunged forward. His blade loudly ticked drawing Levi's attention. "Very protective over each other." The blades were quickly moving within being able to slash open either one of their faces. "But then again... most blood tends to be like that."  
"You're way too arrogant."  
"But I tend to-"

Kaon paused as he looked over to Star who had fallen into a crouch. "Game over." Kaon stated instantly, shoving Levi back and stepping quickly over to his soldier.

Joshua, Nova and Damian quickly took their place stood directly in front of the two. "Now if you have had enough, maybe we can get down to the business. Why did you attack our squad." The girl voiced one. Nova. She spoke with a strong certainty and at her voice Eren seemed to frown slightly. His brows furrowed together as he desperately was trying to placate something familiar, but with everything around him still spinning, his breathing still hurting and his ability to stand still struggling to wake back up.  
"Taking prisoners ins't something I tend to look calmly on-"  
"Neither is snogging some one else's sister!" Star shouted, the voice wavering and weak, trembling with evident pain.

Armin and Eren who were crouched next to each other and who had one arm wrapped the boy from the village. "They didn't kidnap us-" Armin spoke up those his voice wavered at the last second.

Levi's gaze snapped over to him along with the rest of the others.

It was strange, out of all the faces that now looked at Armin out of surprise, he was sure that he could feel a smile being slide his way from beneath the hood of one cloaked person; Star and then more importantly in the dark, he could feel the onslaught blaring glare of impalement from the one they called Nova.

"They lost two members of their squad saving us. Eren... lost his cool."  
 _"Attacked our leader would have been a better phrasing-OW KAON!"  
_ "It's a misunderstanding sir! Completely and simply that." Armin paused for a minute. "Kind of like you kissing their team member." He added quietly, avoiding Levi's gaze which now was smoldering like an inferno.

For a moment, there was complete silence, long and peaceful, only broken by the sound of the breeze.

"And do you confirm this story, Eren." Levi said finally, moving his gaze over to the black haired boy, filthy in his own blood.  
"I do." He admitted begrudgingly, turning his head away.  
"Well, I know this little place in the city, and in all my time I've learnt that nothing goes down so well between people trying to make a friendship..."

Kaon's squad sighed and groaned, while the three boys and Levi watched him, waiting for his answer.

"Is alcohol." Kaon beamed.

 _ **-Break-**_

The morning was still far too early for a lot of people in the city, but it seemed to have just made moving through the streets quietly all the more easier and a lot more convenient as Kaon said, agreeing with Levi, that the less they were seen, the better.

Kaon however had both arms threw up behind his head beaming to the morning sky. "Ah, 'The Bleeding Heart Thorn', never there be a place where you can have better alcohol, better company, and better rooms in which you can have a mind blowing time by finding someone and fu-"  
"KIDS PRESENT!" Star barked, whacking Kaon on the back of the head, while from below his cloak, fanning his face.

Armin had come to notice the difference between Star and Nova beneath their cloaks. Although both wore a black and crimson cloak, Star tended to wear his with more effect, moving fluidly in it, looking far more graceful, similarly in resemblance to how Nova wore it. But she seemed to let hers move out behind her like fluid water, her heeled boots making more of an impact as she passed like a deadly angel.

But as they rounded the corner on a street by the river, Kaon's smile grew impossibly wide.

There sitting by the bank of the river, still illuminated in the dark morning light was a humble what appeared like on first appearance, tavern. It was layered as cobblestone bricks with a strong set foundation into the ground. The wood beams showed on the outside of the house, a feature Kaon had always admired, like the black tile roof which had always stood out, even among the area, the crystal like white paints and the way it was always clean, it was why he had decided to buy the place when he first saw it. Above where Kaon personally knew the rooms were, curtains were drawn and the faint stirring noise of some people chattering loudly was audible, which led to him knowing what would come next as he took a long side step out of the double door entrance and onto the side path.

"This dump?" Eren wondered out loud.  
"Hey! I'm very close with the owner who works here. She is, loyal, strong, amazing, dedicated , adventurous-"  
"AND DON'T COME BACK!" A voice screamed, followed shortly after by a man flying out of the double large oak doors and crashing along the cold, stone ground.

Kaon looked down at the man who was heavily dazed and smiled. "Ah, home sweet home!" He smiled.

Eren, Armin and Levi exchanged glances as if to say: _Really?_

The inside though however was certainly not what was to be expected.

As they followed the nineteen year old in, they were amazed to look around and see the expensive vintage furniture. Red velvet couches lined the lobby where a desk stood with various mail plots for any of those who took up long term residency in the place. Leading off to the right was a flight of stairs to the various rooms and a corridor which led to the dinning rooms and kitchens. "PUDDIN!" A voice eagerly shouted.

All watched as Kaon was all but tackled with a hug as a figure leapt into his arms, a wave of blonde hair flying out behind them, flourishing with dips of crimson, like blood it self had been poured in streaks through her hair.

Armin turned his head away out of decency as the two started making passionate noises and the girl had pushed Kaon up against a wall, grounding their bodies and mouth's together like there was no tomorrow, or like it was a life saving medication which she had been restricted of.

Her corset like dress was a sharp red, crimson velvet with wing trails which pointed out like diamonds behind either side of her. Her legs were tightly wrapped in a matching black and red leather which was dip dyed on either side with small diamond like patters plastered along her waist in a belt, though the clasp itself was circled with a shinning steel. Though the point of her matching outfitted crimson and midnight boots were certainly strange to those who didn't know of her obsession.

Much less that the knife like heels of her daggers, were just that.

Her eyes glittered just like the symbol of her affection like the summer sky as she half closed her eyes lustfully and leaned in, painting Kaon's mouth with her own. Moving his hands around the curves of her lusted body and then finally letting them come to a stop at her waist as she bit his lip, purring almost as she did so while her fingers swept the warmth of his pale skin underneath the layers of material. "You're late." She teased, gently grinding the sensitive skin of his lip between her teeth and seeing how many moans she could get out of him.

But as the grinding and groans grew wilder, Star coughed and cleared his throat loudly just as the first articles of clothing were being taken off Kaon. "Always a pleasure Harley." Star said, turning his gaze away and fanning himself in the direction of his hidden face. Armin found himself quietly thanking the boy as it seemed that the bluntness of his purring, lilac voice seemed to be what caught both of their attentions... well after he threw a sword into the coat holder next to them, that helped as well.

Slowly walking forward he ripped the blade out of the wood. "Cock block." Kaon growled quietly.  
"I prefer to look at it as, I'd rather not see what you guys get up to in your own time." He smirked, slowly striding his up the stairs as he sheathed his weapon. "Plus." He called something out in some words which most of them didn't catch. However the young boy now started sobbing lightly before running and hugging Star who wrapped a parental like and protective arm around the boy, the child kept whimpering speaking in those strange words which had earlier in the village. Nova wasn't that far behind either of them, standing like a protective guardian. "You seem to keep forgetting that their are children around."

With that the three of them vanished up the stairs.

Armin shuffled his feet, his face glowing with a blush from embarrassment. Eren had a wet cloth places to his face in an attempt to wash the blood off it.

Levi looked... well, as always, it was hard to tell what Levi was thinking sometimes. But even Armin noticed that his eyes trailed after Nova curiously.

"Well." Kaon coughed, not really having cared whether the others had been watching him and Harley going at it so heavily. Though now he had a raging problem he would have to sort out later.

Harley however skirted her eyes over the three new guys and stayed silent for a moment. "I ain't taking in no more kids." She stated firmly, her eyes lingering slightly out the corner of her gaze on the newbies. "The last time that Star brought some strays in they nearly out he out of a home. It's not happening again." She stated and Kaon laughed, holding his hands up in surrender.  
"Hey, you know what Star can be like. His mother hen instincts kick in and there's no chance. Plus, remember... you know what they went through. It's what they've always been like."  
"A week." Harley stated, holding up one finger.

Finally she turned her whole body to look over at the three. "I heard about these three Puddin." Her eyes narrowed slowly. "They can stay the night... then they're out on their asses." She turned back quickly placing a finger to Kaon's mouth and glaring slightly as he had been about to form the words. "No. Arguments." She waited till he nodded and mirrored the gesture. "Good, now come along, you look like you've had a night and a half!"  
"T-Thanks Harley." Armin said politely then watched as she paused, suddenly bursting out with laughter and winking before walking away, not leaving one sharp mark on the floor as she went.

Kaon patted him on the back as he went by and chuckled softly. "W-What did I say?" Armin asked turning his gaze upward toward the other boy.  
"Harley isn't her name kid." Kaon laughed. "Harley is her code name. We all have code names and Aliases. It's part of how we survived this long."  
"So what does Kaon represent?" Armin frowned slightly.

The leader however just carried on down the corridor like a ghost, not looking over his shoulder as he entered a room only lit by the flickering of candle light.

 _Star. Harley. Nova. Why with all the secrecy?_ He frowned in wondering. His mind trying to reel through the amount of reasons why there would even be a consideration for secrecy by them. Were they a private covert force?

"Come."

He blinked and watched as Kaon beckoned the hesitate three who were from the city.

A minute or so passed as both boys looked over to Levi who after a moment of consideration muttered; "If they wanted you dead, they would have left you to the Titans." And with that he swept into the bar room hesitantly followed by Armin and lastly Eren.

Both of who drew a sharp breath as they walked into the room and stared around at the vastly expensive and highly exquisite taste of both furniture, wall decoration and finesse of the overall atmosphere.

Soft music played in the background while the three over took the scene of handing candles against the wall which flickered with a warm glow, the ivory of a piano which was abandoned against the corner of the room. The carpet beneath their feet was a constant and never ending paradox of swirling crimson and black. Painting lines the expensive wooden walls where there weren't artistic full length mirrors. But centered through it was most importantly... well to most of them in there at the moment at least, was the bar.

A sleek black marble supported up by mahogany boards, the surface of the marble casting a faint luminous blue light against the ceiling, not harshly but enough to create a relaxed mood among the others who threw themselves down into the various chairs around the room, taking bottles or glasses and sipping them generously as the alcohol eased the memories of their mission.

Kaon took the lead by turning in his seat at the bar and relaxing his elbows back against the marble, he sipped deeply from what Armin could see as a bottle of scotch, then wiped his mouth before grimacing ever so slightly. The older boy's eyes now cast harshly at the bottle. "Never did like the stuff."  
"Then why do you drink it?" Armin asked out.

Kaon paused and glanced back down at the bottle before taking three glasses and pouring it out evenly among the three, then deeply swigging from the bottle again as he pushed a cold smile to the surface. "It keeps us sane."  
"Here, here." Josua and Damian called out.  
"So you come back and drink like this all the time?" Eren growled slightly as Levi who was holding the glasses gingerly, passed the boys theirs.

Kaon and the others all burst out into laughter as Harley, or so she seemed to prefer to be called lounged forward across the bar. "Listen here kiddo. If they did, then I would be out of business."  
"We set foot inside the walls on average once every eight months or so. Sometimes just a bit over." Kaon stated with a sigh though he burst out laughing when he saw the look on Eren and Armin's face as the drink burnt through both of the boy's insides. "The longest we have ever spent outside the wall? Probably ten months. That was a rough year." He turned his eyes over to the flickering candles, making the sapphire colour of his Iris blaze. "So when we do step inside, we tend to unwind, to relax and have a day or a night where we drink ourselves silly enough that we can forget for a while, we spend most our time out there among the beasts and the wild places."

Armin pondered over that for a long few minutes as Kaon's words seemed to bring a hushed silence to all who were in his squad. Even Levi seemed to cast an indifferent but reproachful look as he gazed over them. _They spend more time out there with the Titans than they do with other actual human company._ He realized to his own surprise. _Their squad._ He glanced over the forlorn faces and the paint stitched onto each one of them. _They must be like family. They only know each other._

He turned his gaze sadly down at his own drink before slowly raising it as two cloaked shadows swept into the doorway. "To Harry and Jasmine Morgenstern." Armin said gently, surprised to find that a minute or so after, Eren took up the same words.

Kaon eyed both boys carefully. "To Harry and Jasmine." He smirked.

"Ah so sweet of you." A voice purred from the doorway.

Armin barely had to time to watch as the two cloaked figures of Star and Nova swept into the room as their cloaks falling free of their shoulders.

"After all." Star began, his platinum gold hair and those multicolored eyes which had astounded Armin from the moment he had looked into them, now shined at him with a explosion of amusement. "It's not that often me and my sister are the ones who are thought to be dead."

In the flickering light, the harsh black and crimson reflection of the freshly cleaned uniform was almost intimidating like the black wing symbol which accompanied their new jackets.

Both Morgenstern siblings were pale, bruised and obviously exhausted but hid their injuries well and guarded their posture and mask of a face so that they looked intimidating, dominant.

Jasmine's hair rivaled the darkness and shadows itself. Her gaze more pointed and stabbing than a weapon.

Harry's swept spikes of hair could have defined the ice of winter. His gaze more drawing than a siren luring sailors to death.

Both slim, beautiful and deadly.

Armin's face exploded into a blush, before he even realized it, he was suddenly stood with rage painted across his face. His fists curled and thrown out in anger. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" He bellowed, surprising even himself by his anger and the outburst. "I thought you were dead." He said again though now he lowered his head and his words bounced off the other boy's chest.

Harry stood firm, his face growing impassive and cold as he looked into Armin's eyes.

Jasmine slowly walked over to the side of the room, stood next to her brother with a cold and harsh, stone like face as she glared down at Levi with harsh eyes.

The man however just responded with as equally as blank face. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened out there. It was a mistake, I hope you under stand that."

Levi's words were cut off as Jasmine balled a fist into the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward, knocking him off balance and whispering a breath onto him before landing their mouths together. Stealing the kiss and making a conquest of his lips as she smirked harshly into what should normally be a romantic gesture, but with her it seemed only like another fight which she must control. But with it, the way that she held herself, leaning in but not completely, making it a game of who had dominance who didn't, it was astounding, even to Levi.

The others with the exception of Harry and Kaon all cheered. Her brother still glaring coldly down at Armin seemed to know the game she was playing.

Kaon was too busy studying both of them for their reactions.

Jasmine let out a soft whisper of breath into the air, shoving a shocked Levi back who didn't seem to understand what was just going on.

With one punch she brought Levi back to his senses and sent him crashing backwards as he had to regain his footing.

"Harry-"

Armin was shoved out the way as the nicknamed ice prince among the squad moved gracefully past barely even looking over his shoulder. "It's, Star." He purred with the tone of a blizzard as he took a seat at the piano with his sister hovering over next to him protectively. Her eyes closed softly as the boy, who had seemed to caring out in the field, who played such a beautiful tune now on the piano, now was colder and harsher than even the worst winter.

"Excuse them." Kaon said casually, watching Levi, Eren and Armin who looked shocked. "It's nothing personal. They don't play nice with others. Their best friends are each other and in this squad, and even then, they mostly only talk and hang out with each other. It's the way it has always been."

The three who belonged to the city were shocked to see no surprise across any one else in the squad's face.

"Welcome back from the dead." Kaon raised his glass, earning a smirk from the siblings.  
"Good to be back." Star... or Harry, (Armin found it confusing what to call him now, surprised to see this harsh and cold boy after what he had witnessed out in the village), whispered softly out into the piano tune he played.  
"It's good to be back into the snake pit." Jasmine/Nova grinned from ear to ear. Hey eyes flashing open momentarily and locking onto Levi and Eren.  
"The game is only just beginning." Kaon stated as he downed the last sip from the bottle and slammed it onto the counter. "Enjoy today, for life in the rogues? It could always be your last."

A round of cheers went up in the rooms, drowned out only by the sound of the piano as the glasses were refilled only to be downed once more in attempt to bury the unsaid pain.


End file.
